Dwayne Parsons is not giving up on his plan to add a crematorium to his Country Haven Funeral Home, even though the West Newfoundland Regional Appeal Board has concluded that the City of Corner Brook did not err in turning down his application.
The decision issued by the board says the city followed appropriate procedures as outlined in Section 26 of the City of Corner Brook 2012 Development Regulations when considering the application and under those regulations it did have the authority to refuse the subject application.
The board, however, did agree that the city failed in not providing Parsons with its reasons for refusing his application and directed it to vary the letter issued to him and to provide reasons for denying the application.
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Parsons applied to construct a crematorium at 167 Country Rd. in February 2017 and was informed by way of a letter in August 2017 that the application had been refused.
Parsons said Wednesday that it was the lack of reasons that prompted him to file the appeal in the first place.
He figures he’ll be getting something on why his application was refused now.
As for what has happened, Parsons said he respects everything that went on and he’ll now gather all the information he can and reapply. He said he still believes a crematorium would be a good addition to his business and the 2 ½-acre lot he has on Country Road is the best spot for it.
This time, he said, he’ll do more to reach out to the public.
“We want to educate the people of Corner Brook on it. There is a little bit of fearmongering going on, of the unknown.”
He said Country Haven will postinformation on its website and social media accounts and plans to hold a public forum where people from the area can express concerns and he can answer any questions.
Parsons can appeal the decision of the board to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, but has no intentions of doing that.
A representative from the city was not made available for an interview prior to deadline.
The full decision can be found at https://www.mae.gov.nl.ca/for/decisions.html
